Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 266
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
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| 17:21-36
For when the Lord tore Israel away from the kingdom of David, they
chose Jeroboam son of Nebat as their king. But Jeroboam drew Israel away
from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. And the
people of Israel persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. They did not
turn from these sins until the Lord finally swept them away from his presence, just as all his prophets had warned. So Israel was exiled from their
land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.
The king of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Cuthah,
Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the towns of Sa
maria, replacing the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria
and lived in its towns. But since these foreign settlers did not worship the
Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which
killed some of them.
So a message was sent to the king of Assyria: “The people you have sent
to live in the towns of Samaria do not know the religious customs of the
God of the land. He has sent lions among them to destroy them because
they have not worshiped him correctly.”
The king of Assyria then commanded, “Send one of the exiled priests
back to Samaria. Let him live there and teach the new residents the religious customs of the God of the land.” So one of the priests who had been
exiled from Samaria returned to Bethel and taught the new residents how
to worship the Lord.
But these various groups of foreigners also continued to worship their
own gods. In town after town where they lived, they placed their idols at
the pagan shrines that the people of Samaria had built. Those from Bab
ylon worshiped idols of their god Succoth-benoth. Those from Cuthah
worshiped their god Nergal. And those from Hamath worshiped Ashima.
The Avvites worshiped their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. And the people
from Sepharvaim even burned their own children as sacrifices to their
gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
These new residents worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed from
among themselves all sorts of people as priests to offer sacrifices at their
places of worship. And though they worshiped the Lord, they continued
to follow their own gods according to the religious customs of the nations
from which they came. And this is still going on today. They continue to
follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the Lord and
obeying the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands he gave the
descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel.
For the Lord had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and
commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them
or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. But worship only the Lord,